


A Light in the Dark

by Beta2Omega (BetaZ)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Derek Feels, Gen, Hinted Sterek, M/M, Mentions of the Hale fire, Pack Feels, Some aggression is released through violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-16
Updated: 2012-09-16
Packaged: 2017-11-14 08:46:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/513422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BetaZ/pseuds/Beta2Omega
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek is tired of being constantly reminded of his mistakes. He's tired of having the evidence of his past glaring at him. He hates the pain of being unable to forget or forgive. He's tired, and he's angry, and...he misses them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Light in the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by august_justice
> 
> Any characters you recognize are not mine.

Derek stared up at the charred remains of the house. It was the house he grew up in. The house where his father would teach him to control his wolf’s urges, the house where his mother would make blueberry-banana pancakes for Laura’s birthday every year and chocolate-chip pancakes with strawberries on top for Derek’s own. It’s the house where his cousin Marie took her first steps at their annual Wolf Moon gathering, their way of welcoming the New Year. She had only been two when she…when they all…

Derek felt a slight burning sensation in his nose as he tried to push back all those feelings of longing for his family’s laughter and shrieks of glee as nine-year-old Joseph chased Laura and Derek around outside the house with a water gun during the hot summer barbeques. He would have been starting his senior year of high school right now.

The weight in his hands felt almost unbearable, though physically the sledgehammer was almost light with the werewolf’s strength. His grip tightened on the handle as he approached the house slowly. Once he was close enough, Derek carefully reached out, placing his left hand lightly on a small patch of almost untouched wood, looking out of place against the black of the burnt remains surrounding it. 

Still gripping the hammer in his right hand, Derek walked toward the porch, keeping his left hand lightly dragging over the surface of the wood of the house. He stared up at the building, vaguely thinking that the house seemed to be glaring accusingly back at him. The Alpha had to look down at his feet to escape the thought. 

He climbed onto the porch and entered the house, not bothering to close the door behind him. He felt numb as he looked around. There was the corner in the living room where his mother and grandmother would decorate the tree, working together to get it just right, only to call to all the kids when it was done so they could go nuts, throwing tinsel everywhere, sometimes even managing to get some on the tree. 

If Derek closed his eyes, he could almost hear the thundering of feet as he, Laura, Joseph, and Joseph’s little sister Becca race each other down the stairs Christmas morning, eager to open the first present. He could almost smell Aunt Karen’s famous omelettes mixing with the aroma of brewing coffee. He could hear Peter’s grumblings about elephants stomping around the house waking him up, just as he grabs hold of Becca from behind and tickles the five-year-old’s belly, causing her to scream with glee.

When Derek came back to reality, he opened his eyes. There was nothing. Just the burnt out shell of what used to be his home. Derek felt a tear slip from the corner of his eye. His Uncle Tyler had teased him when Derek accidently let it slip that he had a girlfriend. Peter had gone quiet and reserved when the teen admitted who it was. His parents told him that he couldn’t see her again. That Kate was too old for him. Laura had broken into his locked bedroom after he had stormed off. She had hugged him. She stayed with him until he calmed down, letting him rant and rave and admit that he thought he loved Kate. His sister had looked sad at that, telling him reluctantly that she agreed with their parents. But it was different coming from Laura. It didn’t make him angry; she was just sixteen months older than he, so he felt that she could understand him. So he promised he wouldn’t see her again.

He lied.

And now Derek was standing in the empty house, holding a sledgehammer, grief and rage building up inside him. 

She had tricked him. She manipulated him. 

And she had done it with a smile.

The first swing caused the crunch of shattering wood to echo through the house and down to Derek’s bones. The second was more satisfying. With each new crash, a different memory would force its way into Derek’s mind.

Crash!

Becca, looking up to him, holding her hands out and flexing her tiny fists, waiting for “Dery!” to pick her up.

Crash!

The looks on Aunt Jessica and Uncle Eric’s faces when they announced they were pregnant with Marie.

Crash!

His grandmother, their Alpha, joking that Laura was such a good leader that the title of Alpha might skip their father and go straight to her.

That one was a particularly hard blow as the hammer went straight through the wall. Everyone had laughed at his father’s indignant, “Hey!” as Derek’s grandfather heartily agreed that Laura would make an amazing Alpha one day.

Crash!

Derek felt tears on his face and an ache in his arms, but he didn’t care. He couldn’t. Hell, the house could fall down on top of him and bury him alive for all he cared at the moment. There was nothing to Derek in that moment but the next swing of the hammer, the shattering of broken wood, and the phantom screams of pain that haunt him every time he stepped into this broken place. 

He doesn’t know how long he’s been there, how many times he has swung the hammer, but suddenly there are two pairs of hands on him, one on his shoulders, one gripping his hands on the handle. Derek snarled, eyes glowing red as he threatened whoever was brainless enough to challenge him. He whipped his head to the person holding his hands and glared at the calm, pale face that stared back. Derek’s pulse was racing, nostrils flared, ready to bite, rip, tear into anything that got in his way. 

But Stiles just watched him, not reacting to the aggression in his Alpha’s movements. After a moment of watching each other, Derek felt his breath begin to slow, the haze of rage and guilt that had been clouding his judgment dissipating. He felt his fangs retract, not even remembering when he had bared them. The tears, however, hadn’t stopped, and without the rage to power him on, Derek sank to his knees, the sledgehammer falling from his grasp. He allowed himself to fall back, now resting his weight on his calves. 

Stiles kneeled next to him and wrapped his arms around Derek’s shoulders. Another body pressed against his other side, and Derek could just make out a head of curly blonde hair. Isaac gently placed his forehead on the older man’s shoulder, staying as still as possible. Stiles had buried his face into Derek’s neck, so the older man leaned slightly to rest his own head against the younger man’s. Bringing a hand to grip Stiles’ arm, the Alpha closed his eyes, trying to calm himself. He heard the scrape of footsteps coming toward them, felt the pressure of hands being placed on him. One on the side of his neck Stiles hadn’t claimed. One grasping his free hand. One on his right knee. One in the space between his shoulder blades, right where his tattoo was. 

They stayed that way until Derek’s breath had evened out, slow and deep, and his eyes had run dry of tears. He sighed and let his eyes open.

Erica was directly in front of him with her head held slightly down, her right hand on her Alpha’s neck, her left gripping Jackson’s shoulder. The teen had his own right hand on Derek’s knee, his other lay on Stiles’ back. Derek turned slightly to see that his own left hand was being held tightly by Scott, whose side was pressed flushed against Erica’s own. The dark-haired teen’s other hand was firmly clasped in Isaac’s, who, in turn, had his right hand reaching around Derek’s back, most likely resting on Boyd’s shoulder. Boyd completed the circle with one hand on the center of the Alpha’s back and the other on Stiles’ arm.

No one spoke.

The only sounds were slow heartbeats and calm breaths as the pack breathed each other in.

Derek found himself thinking something he hadn’t dared to think since he first came home from shopping with Laura to find their home destroyed and their family gone forever. This was the first time he thought it that hadn’t caused him to feel ill or guilty or like he was betraying their memory. Derek gave one last look around at his pack before closing his eyes again, settling back down, and letting the thought wash over him.

Everything was going to be okay.


End file.
